This is War
by STRONG Writing
Summary: There's a war going on in Equestria, the earth ponies against the pegasi and the unicorns. The mane six try their best to stop it before it gets any more out of hand. Rating because I think I said 'hell', like, once.
1. Chapter 1

**Dur du dur. I think… I have no idea where this is going (I rarely do), but here we have this. Thing. **

**I'm gonna need some encouragement to finish this, or continue it, since I've already got a couple of 'fic I've gotta work on. But this happened. And. Yeah. **

**First pony fiction. Yeah, bro. So… I'll try to have fun with it while keeping it serious. Sort of. I think I'll be okay. **

**You'll hear from me again at the end of this chapter. **

It was quiet, for the moment, and Twilight Sparkle was going to make the most of it. She snuck through the camp, which was also unusually silent. Normally there were at least the guards, standing around or looking across the barren fields. There had been grass there only recently, she had forgotten when that'd changed. The quiet muttering of various unicorns and pegasi alike came from the tents, though a few were abandoned.

She was going to meet her friends, the few people she still talked to. She was very withdrawn since this whole thing started, keeping to herself and staring off into space. She wasn't much of a soldier, and so she was kept behind the lines for safety. She was never questioned; everypony in Equestria knew who she was and why she was left behind.

This had all started a year or so ago. Some of the earth ponies had begun to realize how oppressed they were in comparison to the pegasi and unicorns. The realization only hit one pony at a time, but soon they were all aware, and tensions were rising. It was no wonder they hadn't realized until then, there was just a particular way of doing things, but once you knew it was hard to miss. Twilight had known since she was young, training her magic under Princess Celestia and reading all she could about the history of their great land. Great being a flexible term. And then the war had started. They were small riots at first, and put down quickly, the culprits being shipped to Canterlot, and nobody knew what happened to them there. They might have been re-conditioned, but she doubted any measures that extreme were taken. They were more likely just taken to the prisons or underground holding and guarded. And through all of this, awareness was spreading past Canterlot and Ponyville, and into the big cities, the countryside. Celestia set her troops on the move, collecting volunteers in secret from the ranks of pegasi and unicorns in her castle and on her royal guard. Unsurprisingly, there were no earth ponies in her legion. There batches of troops were stationed all across Equestria, ready to strike down riots—whole towns if necessary—at the call of the either princess. Celestia was the preferred commander, but in the event of her death or absence, they were also to take orders from Luna.

Not long after, the towns and villages got wind of the move, and all of the earth ponies began their own rallies of troops. Smaller bands were captured, others fought back and won. Upon hearing about the tragic death of their brethren, everypony became outraged, bombarding the princesses with their protests and demands for justice. Celestia consulted every pony she trusted, all those that would still speak to her, at least, and got the consensus. Everypony wanted justice, and nopony could get it without another group going into hysterics. There was just no way. The oppression was heavy-set, far longer than Celestia had even been on the throne, and farther back than even the princesses before her. It came from the time even before Equestria, and nopony knew how to end it. If they tried, the unicorns and pegasi would become angry with them, as well, and then there would be no control and no way to stop the full-on obliteration of the whole of Equestria. Celestia, not knowing what to do, stood back and watched her subjects fight amongst themselves. She held several, heavily-guarded conferences with towns and cities and important, leading ponies in all the places she could, her sister doing the same in the places she couldn't reach. Nothing worked, no matter how hard she tried to explain to them, they just wouldn't understand. So the war had begun.

The earth ponies had gathered all of their kind in the night, after being driven from their homes in cities and small towns alike, and organized themselves into tight garrisons of soldiers. Foals would be watched by the nurses, mares and stallions in good shape and willing to fight for freedom from their oppression took up the front lines. They weren't well trained and they weren't magical, but they would still put up one hell of a fight.

Their attack on the city of Manehatten the next day had caught the attention of everypony in Equestria, the princesses and princess of nearby kingdoms, too. Hearing of the discord reigning there, they issued laws keeping Equestrians off of their soil, and to keep their own subjects out of the fray. Since their own kingdoms ran in much the same way, with the deep-rooted oppression of lesser ponies and on the friendship keeping them oblivious, they didn't want their own kingdoms to fall to the same fate. For that was the truth in the matter, Equestria had fallen. Princesses Luna and Celestia could only do so much, with threats of death over their heads, and returned to Canterlot. Things weren't peaceful there, but they were much better than the conditions below. The earth ponies of every city and town, including Canterlot, had all gone. Nopony knew exactly where, but they weren't where they used to be. Attacks continued, retaliations would follow, and many ponies' lives were lost.

Ponyvillie, being the close-knit community they always were, were the last to break apart from one-another. The Apples were adamant on staying at the farm, and they turned away the earth pony refugees who came in the night to gather them and take them to the camps. The Cakes were torn, considering the children. Pinkie was worried about her family back on the farm, but didn't leave to see if they were at the camps, too. As with all of the earth ponies in Ponyville, they were determined to stay until the fight was over. They were all very good friends, after all.

Being the only town outside of the fight, they got the injured from every side. Earth ponies with broken legs, pegasi with clipped wings and bashed-in snouts, unicorns with broken horns and the occasional broken rib. It was terrifying, and they resisted taking these wounded in battle until they couldn't anymore. They worked as well and hard as they all could to make sure everybody was healing nicely, and that they would be safe while they were in town, but this didn't last very long. When news came to both sides that Ponyville was healing the enemy as well as their own, they pulled the patients out of the hospital and from the houses they were recovering in, sending them to the overwhelmed doctors on either side. Then Ponyville residents began finding threats outside their homes, and sometimes—more frighteningly—inside. Their children were afraid to leave the house, their parents were afraid to let them. Nobody was going into the town anymore, remaining indoors, and occasionally leaving to check on their families in another house.

As you could imagine, they broke one day. Ponies began moving out of the town, leaving to follow the earth pony missionaries that came in the night to collect whoever would come with them, or flying away to Cloudsdale to plot with their brethren and gain back a small sense of security. Soon the entire town was deserted, leaving only one or two families left, and a couple of lone ponies. Twilight Sparkle was one of those lone ponies, as was Fluttershy, and as was Applejack. Pinkie Pie had run off with the Cakes, when they'd gone to the earth pony lines. None of her friends held a grudge; they were her second family after all. She'd told them they were going, and she'd been very upset about it. Nopony blamed her. Rainbow Dash had headed back to Cloudsdale upon hearing that her friends from her younger years were injured, and nopony blamed her either. Rarity had gone with her parents, they'd come to collect Sweetie Bell from her, and she was simply devastated.

The three of them decided to leave Ponyville as well, and join the ranks of their respective groups. Muttering reassurance to one-another, they promised to gather their friends and meet whenever they could. They still believed that friendship could conquer this mess, no matter how bad it got, and they were going to fix it. They didn't know how, but they would figure something out. And with that, they split up and went their separate ways. The Apples went off with the collectors, Fluttershy—though more reluctantly than the others—flew off back to Cloudsdale, and Twilight Sparkle began the journey to Canterlot. Since the train was no longer in use, she walked the way there. Princess Celestia had wanted her to stay in the castle with her and Luna, but she politely declined, and asked to be stationed wherever Rarity was. She had to inform her about their plan. Celestia was slow in finding her, to put off sending her student away, but eventually an escort came around to pick her up and take her to the Unicorn camp of her friend Rarity and her family. Twilight left Spike at the castle, seeing no point in bringing her baby dragon into the fighting. There were also pegasi in this camp, but very few since most of them found it safer in Cloudsdale. The camp was an upsetting sight, the tents leaning to the side and blowing in the heavy wind on the field, and with foals laying around in a depressed and bored state of mind. Their parents, sisters, brothers, and everypony else were in their tents getting ready for the defense they would be needing very soon.

Rarity was busy at the moment, she had taken up arms and was training with some of the other mares and stallions. Once she finished that session, Twilight explained the situation to her, and she'd agreed. They needed to stop this before she needed to put her new skills to the test. Twilight had taken up learning to heal from one of the nurses, who'd come from Ponyville and knew her quite well.

And now, in the present, Twilight Sparkle met up with Rarity at the edge of the camp and raced across the field to the edge of the forest. It was an unfamiliar forest, but it was thin and you could see through the trees in all directions, she was sure they wouldn't get lost. The pair raced through the trees to the meeting place, where Pinkie Pie and Applejack were already waiting, and they looked very exhausted. The earth pony camp, while being on the other side of the forest not too far away, was in a state of constant disarray and they were in charge of several duties. Pinkie Pie cooked and Applejack was in charge of the weapons, what little they had. They were nervous, leaving their families to meet up with the enemy, but they weren't the enemy, they were friends. To their troops, however, they were the enemy and any association would see them all guilty of a taboo. Soon following, the two pegasi were also in the clearing with them.

"Hi guys." Rainbow Dash broke the silence hanging over them with a slightly-less-enthusiastic-than-usual greeting. A small chorus of 'Hello's and 'Hey's came from her friends. Fluttershy simply nodded. They hadn't spoken since she'd went to Cloudsdale, being in different ranks and in different stations. Rainbow Dash was one of the soldiers, and Fluttershy was a foalsitter. While she'd made it clear she didn't want to fight anybody, and was deathly afraid to, there weren't as many pegasi as there were unicorns or earth ponies, so she would be called out as a last resort. In fact, both the unicorns and pegasi together weren't the same amount as the earth ponies alone.

"On to business, then?" Rarity started, sitting up straighter and scanning the faces of her friends with sad eyes. She hadn't seen some of them in so long. She had hoped they would at least have some time for their old good-news exchange, but she knew it was too good to keep hopes up.

"Yes." Twilight Sparkle coughed, clearing her throat. "How are everypony's troops doing? Is everyone alright?" She asked. Being an open question, she didn't care who answered, as long as somebody did. Nobody spoke up for a long while.

"Mine are very, very enthusiastic about this war, Twilight. Not all of them, but most of them. They're willing to jump at the chance to attack." Pinkie finally said, looking down at the ground. Her steps, her friends duly noted, were no longer bouncy, and her voice no longer sing-song and cheery-toned. Her words were drawn out, and they hadn't seen one smile as long as she'd been there. That in itself was cause for worry.

"Pinkie, are you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked, tossing aside the war momentarily to worry about her friend.

The pink pony didn't answer, just looked off to the side into the woods. Rainbow shot Applejack a concerned glance. The others followed suit.

Applejack sucked in a deep breath, and sighed. "Pumpkin Cake ate somethin' really bad a while ago. She's not doin' too well," She, too, looked at her hooves. "Our doctors are just too busy with the soldiers' injuries to take care of 'er, and they're not in much of a rush to, neither." It wasn't what anypony would call understandable, but it was something they could, somewhat, see through a logical eye as being 'understandable'. They needed soldiers to continue fighting.

"Oh, Pinkie," Fluttershy began, they caught herself and stopped speaking again. She didn't look like she was going to continue, and she also looked worse for wear. She had to deal with crying foals all day, and it was clear she hadn't done much else. She was hardly sleeping; it was evident from the bags under her eyes.

"Can we please," Pinkie's voice cracked, but then she looked up and perked up her ears in an attempt to look alright, "Talk about how to stop this now?" It wasn't really a question, she just wanted this to end. They all did. Twilight and the others pushed her no further, no matter how much it seemed she needed the comfort. The longer this went on, the more ponies would be hurt, the more foals would cry and the longer friends had to go without seeing each other.

"Of course." Twilight nodded. Rainbow Dash bumped Pinkie's shoulder good-naturedly and forced a smile in an attempt to cheer her up. "Have we thought about the Elements of Harmony any more since last time?" She asked, looking over her friends' faces.

They all nodded, and Applejack stepped forward. "Will they work? These are other ponies, not monsters or nothin', and they were same as us just a little while ago." She brought up a good point.

"Maybe… But they're not in harmony right now, and I'm sure seeing that we can still pull through as friends, we can make an effort at least, right?" Twilight had no other ideas. There didn't seem to be any other way to finish this. Maybe with help from other kingdoms they could pull it off, but the others had closed their borders.

"Sorry, Twilight, I just don't think it's going to work." Applejack sighed.

"Could we… Maybe, could we try to talk to our troops? We could get them to ask why they're fighting. I mean, they can't want this, can they? I know they don't want to hurt anypony, not really." Fluttershy suggested. "They didn't try talking amongst themselves yet. It could still work." Pinkie Pie's eyes lit up a little bit, and she nodded slowly.

"That might work. Yeah." She looked to be in deep thought. "Yeah!" From her cheer, the others started to brighten up, as well.

"So, what?" Twilight asked, "We just talk to the leaders and get them to talk to each other?" The entire thing, while the favorable solution, also sounded pretty improbable.

"Yeah, do you really think it'll work?" Rainbow Dash asked, also musing over the idea, rolling it around, you could see it in her eyes she was thinking hard about it.

"Sorry, it was a bad idea. I just wanted to help." Fluttershy interjected, slouching over further, looking Twilight in the eye. There was a hint of anger in her expression, as if she didn't want to submit to their disagreement, like she still did think it would work and that she was right. They were wrong. But she was keeping her mouth shut and her comments to herself.

"No, no," Rarity jumped in, "It sounds like a great idea!" She must have caught that too. "It also sounds a lot less messy than a war, don't you think?" She looked at her friends, narrowing her eyes, telling them not to disagree, just to go along because it could actually work. Their society, the entire kingdom of Equestria was built on friendship wasn't it? Those feelings couldn't be gone, and if they could only make everypony see it again…

"We can do it, girls. We're just gonna have to try." Applejack agreed, and Pinkie Pie nodded her head in agreement, more enthusiastic, and with a smile. Fluttershy looked relived, and triumphant. It was a new look for her. War did crazy things to ponies.

"Then it's settled! We'll try to talk it out." Twilight said, nodding to her friends as they stood and began to leave. They wanted to get started as soon as possible. She didn't blame them, she wanted it to end as much as they did, if not more. "See you soon!" She called after them. They whipped their tails in reply, already heading off.

She hoped it would work.

**Well, now that you know that I can't write and this was terrible, review and tell me if I should finish it! **

**-Dave **


	2. Chapter 2

**I got a little bit of a cool response to the last chapter, so here we have installment #2! **

Tensions had risen since Twilight Sparkle had met with her friends in the forest, having been a few days since. There had been an attempt to seize the earth ponies' main camp, but that had been stomped out underhoof as quickly as it had begun. Almost no ponies came back from that battle, but she and everypony else had no doubts most of the ones who didn't return were simply being held prisoner. Fluttershy had made a valid point, nopony really wanted to hurt anypony else.

It was at such a terrible time that Twilight had, foolishly, decided to try to talk their superior officer into talking it out with the other troop leaders. Possibly hold a large conference where everypony could have their say, and they could convince them all to stop the fighting. (If nothing worked, she would resort to the "Do it for the foals!")

"But Star Thunder!" She exclaimed, "Think about every wrong we could put right if we just agree to speak to one another!" The older mare shook her head, not bothering to look over from her maps. Standing inside of the small tan tent, with three other ponies, made Twilight just the slightest bit claustrophobic. She was sure the feeling would pass. "Why? Tell me, why do you think it won't work?"

Star Thunder sighed heavily and turned around to face the medic. Her tone was exhausted and irritated."Twilight Sparkle, I have been patient with you these past couple of days, but if you continue to speak such nonsense I will have no choice but to send you back to the castle." So she wasn't going to answer her question?

"Just tell me why, and I'll be satisfied." Twilight shot back. Star stopped in mid-turn, flashing Twilight a sharp glare, to be matched only with the sharpest of tongues.

"Because, Twilight Sparkle, the friendship and harmony that has held Equestria together no longer stands. I understand your point, and wouldn't it be nice if everything ended like a fairytale, but it's not going to work that way. Nopony wants to speak with anypony else on the opposing side. Everypony has lost somebody important to them, and everypony wants compensation they can't have. So they stride towards revenge, and even if we held a meeting of commanders the others wouldn't go for the idea." Twilight Sparkle lowered her head in defeat, purple forelock falling over her eyes as she stared dejectedly at the ground. Star Thunder's tone softened, and she stepped forward to comfort her. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but the sooner you learn that friendship doesn't always work, the better." The red mare turned back to her maps, and gestured to the two colts on either side of the work table. Twilight took this as her signal to leave.

"How did it go?" Rarity jumped to her feet, seeing Twilight walk out of the tent. Looking up at her face, she soon let her half-smile (for that was all anybody could spare these days) fall. She whipped her tangled mane aside out of her face and trotted up in her friend's direction, nudging her shoulder in somewhat of a comforting gesture.

"Can you guess?" Twilight huffed, sitting down right outside of the tent and hanging her head.

"Honey, honey it'll get better!" Rarity chirped. She didn't hold much hope herself, but it was all she had to go on, and Celestia be damned if she wouldn't try her best to stay positive. "Trust me…" Twilight Sparkle nodded, standing up again slowly. She was staring to lose faith herself, but if Rarity could soldier on, so could Twilight Sparkle. She was the princess' own protégé, for pony's sake!

"Yeah, we can always try again later." She did her best to sound cheery. Rarity nodded.

"Twilight," A voice called across the camp, a small distance. "Need your help, we've got another one!" It was Red Heart, one of the other nurses on sight, and Twilight's mentor in the ways of medicine. She nodded, giving Rarity a goodbye-flick with her tail.

"I'll see you later!" She called over her shoulder as she ran off, wondering who it was this time.

.

Rainbow Dash pulled her head up out of the cover of clouds at the sound of her name. She jumped from the cover and rushed over to her commanding officer, whose face was slowly overtaken with a large frown. He'd been trying to suppress it, but couldn't manage to when she was actually around. "You called, Ton?" She asked, decidedly ignoring his expression. All the better for her, it helped when nopony thought she could read a mood.

"What's this I hear from Fluttershy, about you wanting to 'talk it out' with the opposition?" Ten Ton inquired, narrowing his eyes. Rainbow didn't answer right away, she was taken aback. Fluttershy had… Fluttershy had confronted their superior officer about their plan? Rainbow had been supposed to do that later this evening. Way to jump the gun! She was torn between jumping into the sky in sheer joy and burying herself in the clouds again.

"Well, um, I'm gonna guess it's about us wanting to talk it out with the opposition." Rainbow Dash explained, however awkwardly and as vaguely as possible. She didn't want to be kicked from the lines because she'd been talking with the enemy. Though the "enemies" were her best friends.

"Whose insane idea was this, Dash?" Ten Ton asked, keeping his expression as calm as he could manage to. Sometimes she wondered how he'd made it past the violence radar at every corner. When she didn't answer immediately, he tensed up. "Well?"

"It was," She rolled her eyes around in her head and bit her lip, thinking up an alibi. It wasn't too out of character for her to do such a thing, so it wasn't likely he would suspect her of lying. "Uh…" she didn't want to be kicked from the lines, she had to be careful. "It was Fluttershy's idea!" She declared, sitting down heavily on the cloud. This might get her in trouble with the quite, yellow pegasus later, but there wasn't much she could do about it now, the words had already left her mouth. Ton sucked in a sharp breath, looking left to right before back at Rainbow Dash.

"I hope you're telling the truth, Dash. We can't have other ponies thinking these things." He stated, flexing his wings in preparation for flight.

"Huh? Why not? Don't we want to end the war—peaceful as possible, right?"

"Dash, you don't understand. It's not going to work like that. All of the earth ponies have this oppression thing taken to a whole new level, and we can't let them continue the way they are. It's a tradition, since before anypony you or I has ever known was even an idea. Equestria won't survive without it. And even if we could, tensions are rising and they're just too caught up in all of this to be reasoned with." Rainbow could think of two ponies who didn't think like that right off the bat, but she decided to keep her mouth shut. "Now, you're sure Fluttershy hasn't told anypony else?"

"Yessir!" Rainbow shouted, starting to fly off, before he could try to converse with her again.

.

Pinkie Pie slowly trotted around the camp, handing out the day's rations and passing the med tent whenever she could. Pumpkin was in there, but she wasn't sure in what condition. Mrs. and Mr. Cake were pretty broken up about it, but she couldn't bring herself to check up and neither could they. They still had Pound Cake to look after, after all. Around the next turn, she heard the voice of her best friend Applejack, and the commanding voice they all knew as that of their senior officer.

"I refuse, thank you kindly, ma'am!" Applejack spat, tipping her hat back on her head of messy hair. Pinkie hid herself behind the tent nearest them, and eavesdropped—just a little!

"You are unable to refuse, we need you out there now." Needlepoint directed, gesturing widely with her short, brown tail. "We've run out of soldiers for this party, and we need a couple more. You're the best fit for the job, and your brother is already waiting for you there." Applejack scoffed, turning and kicking up some dirt.

"I." She repeated curtly, "Refuse." With that, the farmpony sat down in the dirt and stomped her hooves.

"Applejack, you need to stop being such a child! If you want me to even consider what you've said to me, you'll need to act your age!"

"If you've come to recruit me against my will, I think that shows me your decision plain and simple. I'm not goin'." She refused to look back at Needlepoint, which is why she missed the horrific glares on the back of her head. Needlepoint—nasty pony to begin with, but now that she was in charge, psh, you could never get a word in edgewise and you could never disagree—looked just about ready to take her anger out on the back of Applejack's head.

"You do not have a choice, soldier. Now stand, and go prepare yourself for the front lines." Needlepoint hissed between her teeth. Applejack stuck up her nose and snorted.

"I don't gotta listen to you, and I ain't goin'." Pinkie would have giggled, had the situation been any less serious, and were she not deflated as it was. "Find somepony else."

"There is nopony else!" Needlepoint snapped, whipping Applejack around by the shoulder, staring the stubborn work pony in the eye. "Now, go prepare yourself for battle!"

"Please consider elsewhere, ma'am. I ain't gonna fight. Those ponies are my friends, and I refuse to attack 'em." Pinkie was very impressed, Applejack was like a bull sometimes. It was more evident now. She wouldn't take anything from anypony, and she wouldn't listen to other's opinions. The last bit, it was debatable whether or not that was a good thing, but at this very moment it was a blessing.

"Applejack, do you want to know why we're going to war?" Needlepoint lowered her voice, it was menacing just looking at her face.

"We're already at war, ma'am." Applejack interjected smugly.

"_Do you know why_?" She ignored her companion's statement, moving on with her explanation (that nopony wanted). "It's because we have been oppressed for years underneath those… Those _vultures in ponies' skin!_" She was really getting into this, Pinkie thought to herself. "And the worst part is, we didn't even know until thousands of years later! This is a kingdom ruled on the shoulders and backs of the earth ponies. We _support them, _and they give us _nothing _in return!"

"I quite enjoyed that speech. Maybe you should take it elsewheres." Applejack glared right back at Needlepoint, sarcasm dripping from her tongue. Pinkie Pie was honestly shocked by her friend's behavior. She wasn't like this before. Then again, neither was Pinkie. They were all different now, and it was scary.

"You, Apple, will get to the party immediately," Needlepoint tipped her nose to the sky and flicked her tail in disgust. "Or I will have no choice but to send another pony in your place." She raised an eyebrow, indicating that they'd discussed her replacement previously. A knowing look dawned on Applejack, and she lowered her head in submission, though still fuming.

"Yes'm." Applejack replied, subdued for the moment.

**Well… **

**Still think this is going somewhere worth reading? I'm actually enjoying myself, really. **


	3. Chapter 3

Everypony in the unicorn camp was preparing themselves for the battle. They'd been informed by a spy (clearly they couldn't actually get into enemy ranks, they had positioned ponies outside of the largest earth pony camp to listen in and catch small pieces of conversation where they could) that the earth ponies were on the move, and they were marching toward a smaller camp of unicorns just over the ridge about ten miles out. It was a large group on it's way, too, so everypony had to be ready. The thing was that the smaller unicorn camp was not only gravely outnumbered but unaware of the attack. Star Thunder had been sectioning off her troops, sending as many as she could spare—in the event they were attacked too—across the field. Under strict orders not to be seen by the enemy and to keep discreet, they took off at full speed across. Information on the strike and counter was sent to Princess Celestia with one of the allied birds, this system set up and monitored by Fluttershy and a group of pegasi she trusted to help watch her animals. The princess had mailed back, saying that she wasn't in agreement with the counter and that they should hold their position and hope that the others could take care of themselves. Star Thunder had ignored it, despite the reasoning (the princess hadn't wanted to lose more ponies than she could afford, on either side, and the growing numbers meant they would be fighting that much harder. They would either kill them or be killed, she didn't want to stand for it, but Star Thunder was also more accustomed to battle than their princess. She gave the order.), to get to the site before the attack. They needed to prepare, and Thunder knew best what she was doing. The princess had eventually complied, not that Star Thunder would have stopped even if it had gone without.

In this clump of ponies, she had placed Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, knowing that neither would concentrate without knowing the other was close by. There was evidence of this, Twilight had gone to a battle site to help tend to the wounded and Rarity hadn't stopped fussing about until she came back, unharmed. The two friends traveled close together, discussing something under their breath whenever they could. The subject, of course, was how to get their troop leader to discuss terms of truce with the others. They both agreed that it would be easiest to plan if their friends were present.

By the time they reached the next camp over, they hadn't made any progress. Both of them arrived in a particularly sour mood, but it went unnoticed because everypony was in a sour mood at this point. Star Thunder had appointed Silver Dollar to lead the troops that day, and he automatically began pointing them in all directions, shouting instructions and passing side notes to those in charge of the camp in between. Rarity and her small group of mares were told to position themselves in a clump of trees on the left side of the camp. They were less likely to be seen from that angle, and with the small amount of cover. Silver Dollar hoped to get it over with before they even reached the camp. He set a line of just about everypony else up a mile ahead for the camp, and sent the nurses to the front row of tents, half a mile away from the fighting. The foals and their caretakers were to sit it out at the back of the camp in the last row. Once he'd finished sending them all off, he trotted out to the front lines to pep-talk his troops.

"You're all trained in the ways of magic, and the skills have been honed for this purpose." He began, same as every time he'd been in charge (which was a lot, since Star Thunder was often busy with the planning), "As usual, we are not fighting to kill, only to subdue. However, nopony will look down on you if you do kill, but only in the most desperate of times. We don't want to lose any more than we have, not on either side. We fight to win, but we also fight to reunite." He set his coldest glare at his troops. "Remember that, and we'll surely win. We have the initiative, we have a purpose. And with the motivation our purpose gives us, we can succeed. Fight well," He looked over his shoulder, "And be safe." The ponies in the lines cheered once he was done, though not as enthusiastically as he'd hoped, and he stepped back to join them.

The wait lasted a good half an hour, before they even saw a single pony round the corner. Once they did, the flood kept coming for five minutes. They were disorganized, at best, and they were straggling. They all seemed reluctant to go into battle at all. Rarity wasn't surprised, and watching from the line of med tents, neither was Twilight Sparkle.

The earth ponies stopped just a few yards from the unicorn lines to organize themselves. They all fell into step with one another, shouting above each other's voices and hooting to get their spirits up. There was no lack of enthusiasm on their end. Soon they were in neat-ish rows and all awaiting the order to charge. There was a lot of them. The unicorns looked to one-another for reassurance, no matter how little they would get, and smirked. They could take them. Yeah, why not? They were the inferior earth ponies after all, not a spark of magic in them. Why would they possibly feel threatened by them? Successfully reassured, for the most part, they prepared to retaliate. A pony in the front lines of the earth pony lines gave a nod, and suddenly the wave was coming towards them at a breakneck speed. The unicorns tossed their heads back and ran forward to meet them, and the battle had begun.

.

Applejack and her commanding officer stood side-by-side as they prepared for the charge. She looked up at Needlepoint uncertainly. The older mare didn't respond to the movement, only giving the enemy the stink-eye. Suddenly, their leader nodded, and the shouts and whoops of the troops in lines beside and behind her erupted, as well as the loud thud of hoof on dirt. Applejack jumped up and into a sprint to avoid being trampled by everypony else, watching as the lines passed her by in their rush to attack. She watched the collision with a flinch, watching ponies fall over one another and smash into the sides of their enemies. They pressed on over the fallen and into those in their way, being struck and battered on both sides. It was a truly horrifying sight, and she almost couldn't look at it, but they did need her, no matter how much she wished they didn't.

She tossed her own head back in a cry and trudged forward through the tangled sea of ponies. She was hit from the side, a bolt of magic knocking the wind out of her. She gasped and fell sideways, watching the pony responsible charge her. Jumping from the ground, Applejack spun and kicked the mare in the jaw, sending her backwards a few paces. She looked down at her work, and then away. That was the most horrible thing she'd ever done. She moved backwards a couple of steps, a look of horror etched on her face, but was knocked forward by a kick to her backside. She rolled out of the way in time to miss another magical assault. Pulling herself to her feet, she ran in the direction of the attack, head-butting her assaulter in the chest. He fell back, and she glared down at him. Turning from him and moving on, running through the chaos looking for a familiar face. If she didn't have to do this alone, if she could find somepony she knew, maybe she wouldn't be so confused. It was then she saw Rarity, beaten off her hooves by a couple of earth mares. They prepared to jump at her again, and she zapped them off of her with a sudden burst of magical energy. While they were stunned, she bucked behind her and took another mare off of her feet. So Rarity could take care of herself nice enough, Applejack decided. Watching her friend jump onto a stallion and kick him over from above, she backed in the other direction. A zap behind her ear caught her attention, and she turned to find a very disgruntled Twilight Sparkle just barely staying out of the fray. Her friend motioned for her to come over, and she did.

"Applejack, what are you all doing here? I thought you said they weren't planning another attack for at least a couple of weeks!" She shouted, to be heard over the muck behind them.

"We weren't supposed to! Needlepoint made this up yesterday, and I didn't have the time to come find you!" She explained, her own voice raised to be heard by the unicorn.

"Just be glad we managed to get everypony together in time, we have foals stationed here!" Twilight sighed heavily.

"Well, 's not like it's my fault, don't go scoldin' me." Applejack cautioned, already angry having to be here, not to mention having to fight in the first place.

"I'm not, I'm not. Calm down. We can't fight amongst each other." Twilight actually did scold this time, gesturing to the battle. "I thought we wanted this to stop. We can't do that pinned against one-another."

"You think I don't know that? Twilight, I'm trying just as hard as you to get this settled!" Applejack retorted, turning away.

"Where are you going?" Twilight called over her shoulder.

"Well, I dunno about you, but on my side we're not allowed to associate with the enemy!" Applejack trotted back into the fray, while still trying to avoid a fight she wouldn't say no to one if it jumped at her from behind right now. And neither would Rarity, who stood in the middle of a circle of earth ponies. They were trying to taunt her out of her calm, but she couldn't have any of that. Instead, she lifted rocks from the ground around her and gave them a gentle toss in the other ponies' directions. They scattered momentarily, but a few came back and began anew, unaware that there were other ponies they could be fighting at the moment. Each unicorn, Applejack now noticed, had a small clump of earth ponies surrounding them, and they were doing a good job holding them off. Some unicorns and earth ponies alike were on the ground, out cold or dead. She wasn't able to tell which. Twilight and a couple of other unicorns with special striped vests were gathering up the injured/dead ponies and pulling them into the tents behind the lines. The earth ponies had no such medical tents, just a couple of nurses running back and forth in the jumble and tending to whoever they could get to right then and there. Nopony seemed to think this was a disadvantage, they weren't struck and they were successful in most of their bandaging. The fatalities and those more heavily wounded were dragged or lifted out of the battle and lay, now, on the edges of the turmoil. A searing pain caught her in the flank, and Applejack spun to check the damage, holding back a hiss. Her flank sported a large burn, and she glared up in the direction she supposed the attack had come from. She found another, well-muscled mare leering down at her. The unicorn lowered her horn at her again, and Applejack didn't let her finish her casting. She jumped backwards, smashing her back hooves into the face and chest of her attacker. When she fell back, Applejack was hardly satisfied. Her flank burned and her head hurt. In fact, all of her muscles were stretching, and it was an uncomfortable sensation. At the next attack, she didn't hesitate to knock them off of their feet. She wasn't enjoying herself, not by a long shot, but she was on the defensive, and she was very, very angry.

.

The pegasi up in Cloudsdale had gotten wind of the fight happening below them, but had decided not to risk intervention. If they did, nopony knew how many they would lose or how heavily they would be injured. Pegasi had two extra, important, appendages in full view for everypony, and they were necessary for their fight style. They couldn't risk it, not while everypony was trained so little. They continued their hard training and stayed away from the battle. Everypony was put through several tests of strength and agility, and everypony was supposed to be successful. Fluttershy, of course, wasn't tested. She'd been given leave for a while, considering her "absurd idea" concerning the troops of the other sides.

She looked down on the practice now, wondering how she was ever supposed to join the fight if she was never trained. She hoped she wouldn't have to, but at the same time, she wanted to prove herself. Everypony in training had treated her like she was made of glass, sidestepping her by feet at a time, flying far higher than necessary to avoid her, speaking quietly in her presence. At any other time, she would have considered such treatment a blessing, but not now. Not when everything was falling apart at the seams and she, for once, wanted to be heard. She'd felt like this a couple of times, but had managed to bite the feeling down before anything could come of it. This, however, she didn't want to be overlooked for. She believed she could stop it, but only with her help, and the help of her friends—of course—, could it be done.

She watched her friends Rainbow Dash and Lightning (not as close as Rainbow, but the latter was still considered a friend) dove from terrifying heights and swing themselves through hoops on the sheer force of their falling momentum. While she was scared out of her wits thinking about performing such a stunt herself, she knew that if she wanted to be seen and wanted to be heard, to be listened to, she would need to make herself known. She wasn't a baby; she wasn't in need of protection. She was just as good as everypony else.

Sucking in a final sharp breath—possibly her last, she thought grimly—and dove from the cloud she'd been standing on. She pulled her wings to her sides against instinct and let herself drop, through one cloud, two, three, and then she inhaled again, letting her wings unfurl. The sudden snapping of her wings brought her out of her stupor, and she turned sharply into the first hoop, gliding through without clipping a wing, and dropped again. The second hoop was closer, and she refused to flap her wings, at the last second unfurling them and gliding through. Noticing the final hoop coming up, she exhaled and performed a short series of spins, the final bringing her through the third hoop, at which point she folded her wings once again. Plummeting towards the ground, she prepared for the quick return, unfolding her wings at the very last second, the momentum of the sudden air pocket pulling her upwards, and she sprung back up to the clouds as quick as she could. When she got back, she noticed the stupefied looks on the faces of her comrades, in specific her eyes landed on Rainbow Dash, who clearly hadn't thought her capable of such a feat. A short while ago, neither would Fluttershy herself.

Cheers started at the right side, and carried through the group in training. Fluttershy puffed out her chest and grinned wholeheartedly for the first time in weeks. She wasn't a baby. She was just as good as everypony else.


End file.
